Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 453 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $142,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of RCL. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 1st quarter valued at about $358,614,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,674,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,890,943,000 after buying an additional 602,447 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,991,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $614,487,000 after buying an additional 535,043 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 179.2% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 645,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,550,000 after buying an additional 414,100 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 112.9% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 566,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,396,000 after purchasing an additional 300,232 shares during the last quarter. 87.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RCL opened at $316.59 on Friday. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a twelve month low of $164.01 and a twelve month high of $366.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The company has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $329.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.37.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.04 by $0.34. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 47.15% and a net margin of 20.97%.The business had revenue of $4.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Royal Caribbean Cruises has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.410-15.550 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 5.550-5.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 25th. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 10,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total transaction of $3,399,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,407 shares in the company, valued at $5,414,966.28. This represents a 38.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Henry L. Pujol sold 5,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.47, for a total value of $1,715,550.29. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,578,432.22. The trade was a 39.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,507 shares of company stock worth $10,091,282 in the last three months. 6.95% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $263.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $302.00 to $367.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $311.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $337.00 to $333.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.14.

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of February 21, 2024, it operated 65 ships. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.